| Not so long ago, watching films at home was a | | | | for a DVD player. Although you can get DVD players |
| hopeless experience. You could only buy or rent | | | | for nothing now, you should get a good one if you're |
| poor-quality videos with a grainy picture and bad | | | | going to use it as part of a home entertainment |
| sound. The experience was terrible when you | | | | system. Cheap players may output inferior quality |
| compared to the big-screen, surround-sound cinema. | | | | picture and sound, and might even have trouble playing |
| Now, though, the advent of DVD and home surround | | | | some DVDs at all. |
| sound means that watching movies at home doesn't | | | | The next step is a big television, either flat with an LCD |
| have to be inferior to watching them in the cinema. In | | | | or plasma screen, or perhaps even a projection TV - |
| fact, many people now think it's better - after all, it's | | | | be careful with projection though, as it can break if you |
| cheaper, and you don't have to put up with other | | | | plan to use your TV for video games. You should |
| people making noises while you're trying to watch the | | | | consider getting an HDTV version of whatever you |
| film. Home entertainment systems (also known as | | | | choose if you want to future-proof your system and |
| home cinemas) are getting cheaper, better and easier | | | | make your films look just that little bit better. |
| to construct all the time. | | | | Finally, you should get some good surround sound |
| So what are the ingredients of a home entertainment | | | | speakers, together with an amplifier or stereo system |
| system? Basically, there are three things: a source of | | | | to drive them. Although you can get systems now with |
| high quality video and audio, a display for the video, and | | | | ridiculous numbers of speakers, Dolby 5.1 is still the best |
| speakers for the audio. To begin with, you should look | | | | system to go with, as it is the most widely supported. |